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Chapter 24 - The trial - Part 2.
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It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon and Pistil had attacked with all the evidence he had, slowly the jury was losing the favor for Petal Dance and going in favor of Chrysalis, and the evidence shown by Pistil was still not over.
"Mr. Strong Ocean, you've known Petal Dance and Clear Spark for a long time haven't you?."
"All of us in the market know little Spark and his mother if you must know."
"We have heard other testimonies about how they met Petal Dance and for the safety of your marriage I am not going to ask you to tell us what your interactions with her were like and if I may I am going to assume that you had the same level of... friendship."
"Well, I appreciate that, I intend to make it home alive." Replied the stallion causing a slight chuckle in the room.
"And according to your testimony, you and several merchants have on more than one occasion helped little Spark in his studies, right?"
"It was a very normal thing to help him with his homework."
"That brings me to evidence number twenty." The changeling picked up a blank sheet of paper marked with several salient dots. "Ms. Dance a simple question, do you know what this might be?"
"Objection your honor, my client does not have to answer the question."
" Denied, Ms. Dance please answer the question."
"Ummm... no, I don't know what that is." Answered the mare.
"For your information Ms. Dance, what is written here is braille and it is your son's way of reading a document such as a school assignment, I thought you being his mother would know that but I guess I'm wrong."
The jury murmured again.
"Mr. Ocean could you tell us what it says on this sheet?". Pistil passed the paper to the stallion.
Strong Ocean closed his eyes for a moment as he ran his hoof over the protruding dots a couple of times while mumbling something. "This... is... easy... to... read."
"Your Honor we can't take the witness's word as evidence of faith, he could very well be making up the words." Petal Dance's attorney objected.
"Your Honor, Yak is a certified special education teacher with years of experience working with visually, hearing, and motor impaired minors, yak can read braille and if you allow yak, yak can confirm its contents." Said almost shouting the juror yak."
"I will allow it, lawyer please show the evidence to the jury."
The yak took the paper and ran his hoof over the dots. "This is easy to read, yak can assure you that is what it says." Finally, he hoofed the sheet back to the lawyer.
"Thank you sir, with this evidence in my hoof I ask the jury, or rather that they imagine some reason why Clear Spark's mother, who says she loves him so much and cares for him would not know something as simple as Braille language to help her son, something that the ponies in the marking like Mr. Ocean learned to help the foal with his schoolwork, do you think a mother devoted to her visually impaired son would not know how to read or write Braille?, Chrysalis learned the language and it was she who wrote on this paper." The queen nodded her head.
"Your Honor, how can we be sure that Chrysalis wrote that paper in braille."
"Sir, you commented that she could write in braille, can you write something to check if Chrysalis can read it?". Asked the judge to the yak.
"Of course, if you provide yak with a sheet of paper, yak can do that."
The judge handed a blank sheet of paper to the Yak who started to write something and handed it back to the judge telling her in her ear what he had written.
"Ms. Chrysalis, if you would be so kind." The judge handed the paper to Pistil who passed it to Chrysalis.
The queen put the sheet on the table, closed her eyes, and ran her hoof a couple of times over the marked dots. "Yak... are... better... teachers."
"That's what it says, thank you Ms. Chrysalis." Said the judge.
"Can the jury have any doubt now whether or not Chrysalis cares about Clear Spark?". Pistil asked the jury to which they all murmured and gave Petal Dance a disapproving look.
The evidence by Chrysalis and witnesses kept coming in and Petal Dance had less and less in her favor, by almost four o'clock in the afternoon the judge saw the clock, she had to finish the trial for the day as she had another trial to preside over at four o'clock.
"We will continue the trial tomorrow morning at nine o'clock." The judge banged her gavel again and retired to her office.
Celestia was very upset with how the trial was going so far getting up from her seat and quickly leaving the courtroom.
"Sister?" Luna asked somewhat quizzically but Celestia didn't seem to hear her causing doubts to appear in the mind of the princess of the night.
Luna looked for Celestia around the castle but could not find her anywhere nor had the guards see her, intrigued by the reaction of her sister during the trial, the princess of the night flew over the city, and in the distance, she saw her sister flying in the north direction of the city, so she followed her to know what had happened to her.
When she was reaching her, she saw that Celestia landed in front of a luxurious house and knocked on the door, Luna landed in an alley and hid behind some dumpsters to see what was happening, Celestia knocked once more and a mare opened the door, to Luna's surprise that mare was Petal Dance.
Celestia entered the house and closed the door, Luna approached the house and looked out the window to see Celestia having a heated argument with Petal Dance, she then used her magic to make a bag appear dropping it on the floor and walking to the door, Luna quickly used her magic and teleported to her hiding place behind the trash cans to avoid being seen, Celestia opened the door and flew in the direction of the castle disappearing from sight, Luna came out of her hiding place, approached the house and knocked on the door, she heard footsteps approaching and opened the door.
"I told you Celestia, I'm doing what..." Petal Dance stopped her shouting when she saw who was in front of her. "...Ohhhh. Good afternoon Princess Luna."
Luna without asking permission entered the house and looked around noticing a purse quickly hidden behind a sofa.
"I couldn't help but notice that my sister came to visit you just a moment ago, could you tell me what was the reason for her visit?". Asked the princess with intrigue.
"It was a friendly visit only, nothing out of the ordinary." Replied the mare a little nervously.
"Surely you didn't talk about the trial between Chrysalis and you?."
"It was just a normal visit to see how I was feeling about not being able to be with my son all this time, I miss him too much." Petal Dance said distraught.
"You know perfectly well that your son is in my custody at the castle and you could have visited him whenever you wanted, but you haven't, are you going to tell me what's going on?" Luna approached the mare speaking more seriously.
"I really have nothing to tell you, it was just an ordinary visit, nothing out of the ordinary."
Luna flashed her horn and levitated the purse hidden behind the couch to where she was standing dropping it in front of Petal Dance, the purse opened upon impacting the floor shattering to the side and dropping coins.
"Last chance Petal Dance, talk." Luna said seriously.
"Are you threatening me?" Asked the mare with a frown.
"Threats are for cowards or weak-willed ponies and I don't have that problem." Luna approached the mare stepping on the coins as she walked.
"You know I know your sister and she is a very powerful mare, much more so than you." Petal Dance said confidently.
"That's possible but even Celestia needs sleep and I reign over everyone's dreams, including hers and yours."
"You are not capable of harming me, everyone knows you and will know what you did."
"I repeat, that I act, I am not telling you what I plan to do, I am telling you that regardless of what you do or say now, you are going to prison, I just want to hear what you say so I know how many years of nightmares I will give you." The eyes of the princess of the night showed no hint of doubt and the princess was a mare who kept her words, Petal Dance swallowed from nervousness and told everything.
"When your sister found out Chrysalis was getting out of prison she sought me out and ordered me to annul the adoption of Clear Spark to keep the queen in prison, I don't want to be a mother and I never wanted to be one, I really think he would be better off with anypony than with me." Petal pointed to the bag of money on the floor. "That bag is to pay some ponies to speak on my behalf as witnesses, seriously I didn't want any of this." Finished saying Petal Dance repentantly.
"Thank you for your honesty, now I recommend you talk to the judge and tell her the truth about everything, absolutely everything because the next time I see you walking the streets you will disappear and no one will look for somepony like you on the moon." Luna approached Petal just inches away from her. "And I remind you, I don't make threats." Luna left the house and flew back to Canterlot castle, she had to talk to one more mare.
Luna upon arriving at the castle flew to Celestia's room and landed on her balcony, she opened the windows and dramatically entered the room, Celestia was reading some documents and was caught completely off guard when she heard the windows open.
"Luna, how could you even think of doing something like that, you scared me." Said an already very upset Celestia.
"Sister we must talk." Luna replied.
"I can't right now, I'm too busy." Replied Celestia.
"I know what you did Tia, Petal Dance told me everything and I demand to know why."
"I don't have to justify myself to you Luna, I have other things to worry about." Celestia said without giving her sister much thought as she continued to go through her papers.
Luna used her magic to send all the papers Celestia had on the table flying causing the solar regent to become even angrier.
"I will not allow you to ignore me Tia, I demand to know the truth."
"Not now Luna, I don't have time for you." Celestia replied angrily as she picked up the papers from the floor with her magic.
Luna used her magic and again sent the papers Celestia had picked up flying.
"You will give me the time I need and you will answer my questions." Luna replied very annoyed with Celestia's attitude.
"You want answers?" Celestia asked angrily.
"I WANT THE TRUTH! Luna shouted.
"YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!". Shouted Celestia back, standing up from her seat. "Sister, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls must be protected by ponies with weapons, who is going to do it, you?, Twilight?, I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom."
Luna's eyes grew more serious as did Celestia's.
"Why do you keep her locked up?" Luna asked seriously.
"I fought against her in the attack on Canterlot, I fought and lost Luna, she outwitted our defenses, infiltrated our troops, and entered our home, I fought with everything I had and lost to Chrysalis, and the sympathy of all of you towards Chrysalis can curse us all and the only way I was left to protect us all is to keep that monster behind bars in any way possible." Celestia said annoyed.
"You do it out of fear?."
"Exactly sister, but not for me, I do it out of fear that she will attack somepony again and there is no one who can stop her because I know that every day she spends in prison is a day I avoid a catastrophe, that's why I do it, Luna, because I don't want to see anypony else suffer for what she once did."
"And what happens when Twilight gets stronger?, will you also lock her in a dungeon for fear that she might turn bad?, will you also do it to Starlight?, Discord?, if I do something you don't like, will you also lock me up?."
"I will lock up the ponies necessary to save this nation, Equestria is a strong nation and its regents must be strong too, if the other nations see that we are weak they will think of attacking us and I will not allow that."
"There is a fine line between monarchy and dictatorship, and you are very much on the edge, sister."
"Good thing that we don't have to settle that ourselves, tomorrow we'll know in court which of us is right." Celestia said with a grimace.
"It's too late sister, right now Petal Dance is confessing everything before the judge and Chrysalis will go free, she and Clear Spark will get the life they deserve."
Celestia frowned and approached Luna, but the princess of the night didn't flinch.
"When she tries to destroy us again I hope you remember that I tried to stop her and you were the one who set her free."
"If and when that day comes I will face the consequences as I always have and I will not hide behind a mask of fear as you do, sister."
Luna left Celestia's room and walked through the castle to her room, it was true what Celestia said, in the future, Equestria would again be under attack by somepony powerful but no matter what happened in the future the princess of the night was hopeful that when she had to defend Equestria from some danger, Chrysalis would be by her side helping her.